Exposed (32 page)

She nodded. “I think that’s exactly what happened. She obviously found Garcia without much trouble, but she must not have been able to find Villa. So she located
el Santo
instead, knowing he was targeting Villa too. With her skill set and contacts it’s not that unlikely. They had a common goal, to kill Villa, so he was probably a means to an end for her. At least, in the beginning. But apparently things changed for her along the way.”

“And what about
el Santo
? Let’s go with the theory that she was using him to get to Villa. Wouldn’t she have to kill him too in the end? To get clear? So how do you explain her helping him yesterday?”

Briar shook her head slowly, a sad smile on her face. “She couldn’t do it,” she murmured, her voice slightly husky with emotion. “Maybe she followed him to Key West yesterday to get to Villa, but when she’d first tracked
el Santo
down with the intention of using him, she hadn’t counted on falling for him. Then she couldn’t kill him and walk away. I think she wanted to save him.” She put a hand to her chest as if the thought touched her deeply and Matt heard the sadness in her voice that one of her Valkyrie sisters would be grieving the man she’d loved.

He slid a comforting arm around her shoulders. It was a lot to take in. He was having a hard enough time absorbing everything.

Glancing behind him, he saw Winter was off the phone now, and watching them through the glass door. “Okay. Let’s go finish this up. He doesn’t look too happy.” He held the door for her and she stepped past him.

Winter snorted, looking totally bewildered as he mimicked Briar’s stance with his arms folded across his chest. He must not have gotten the answers he wanted from his boss. “What is she, some kind of secret government weapon?” he said to Briar.

Pretty much, yeah.

Briar gave him a cool stare, lifted one brow in a gesture Matt knew all too well. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” Matt bit back a grin and watched the other agent’s reaction.

Winter divided a scowl between him and Briar, then turned for the door. “I’m gonna go see about my security clearance,” he muttered, and marched out of the room.

“In those pictures she’s bleeding. Looks like a gunshot in her left forearm,” Briar said, looking at the screen once more. “How badly was she injured?” She turned to Marisol.

“I didn’t see her get hit,” she answered. “I’m not sure how bad it was, but it didn’t slow her down any. She’s a friend of yours?”

“Used to be,” Briar murmured, her expression a little lost. Matt put his arms around her from behind. Holding her close, knowing she wanted to begin her own investigation using her old connections to make sure Georgia was okay.

“I’m sorry,” Marisol said.

Briar inclined her head. “Thanks.”

Matt cleared his throat and spoke to Cruz and Marisol. “You guys can go now. Thanks for coming in. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

Cruz nodded. “I will.”

“See you at the airport in the morning.”

Cruz’s expression tightened and he helped Marisol from her chair, clearly not looking forward to leaving Miami, and Marisol, behind. “Yeah.”

Matt knew how he felt. He hated the thought of leaving Briar tomorrow too.

Epilogue

Three months later

“Marisol!”

Suitcase in hand, she spun away from the airport luggage carousel to ascertain the source of the female voice calling to her. Somehow she managed to cover her surprise when she spotted the woman hurrying toward her with a wide smile stretching her bright red mouth.

Her ride to Ethan’s surprise birthday party wore snug black pants and a black fitted velvet dress jacket with a ruffled bustle that looked like it had come straight out of a Victorian catalogue. August in Virginia wasn’t as hot and muggy as it was back in Miami, but still, the woman had to be insane to wear that.

Her long hair was jet black except for the electric shock of fuchsia running from the crown on her head and sweeping down to frame her jaw, and her skin was pale. Her eye makeup was dark and dramatic, making the golden color of her irises visible even from where Marisol stood.

“Zoe?” she asked. Ethan had told her Bauer’s other half was unorthodox, but her appearance was still a shock. It was hard to imagine this woman with Bauer, the hardest and most serious member on the team. Must be a case of opposites attract, she decided.

The woman beamed at her. “Yup, in the flesh. It’s great to meet you finally,” she said as she approached. Before Marisol could reply, Zoe wrapped her up in a tight hug, the spicy and exotic scent of her perfume swirling around them.

Not knowing what else to do, Marisol reached up and patted her back. Zoe was much warmer and friendlier than she’d expected, considering they’d never met.

Zoe eased back, that megawatt smile still in place. The woman was stunning, and given the Victorian-Goth flare she had going, it was little wonder people all around baggage claim were staring at her. “Sorry. I’m a hugger. Ethan didn’t warn you?”

Marisol laughed. “No, but it’s okay. That was a much warmer welcome than I expected.”

Zoe shrugged and grabbed the handle of Marisol’s suitcase then turned and walked for the exit, her gait as confident as the rest of her. “When I heard a fellow lawyer was being welcomed into the fold, I couldn’t wait to meet you.”

She looked nothing like any lawyer Marisol had ever met. “Oh, what kind of law do you practice?”

“I don’t anymore. I was a family lawyer for a while but now I write romantic horror full time.”

“Really?” Marisol filed that little tidbit away for later. What the heck was romantic horror, anyway? She’d never heard of it.

“Yep, for a while now. I love it. And it suits me better than working at a stuffy law firm anyhow,” she added, giving a slight wiggle of her brows. “Congrats on the Fuentes case, by the way. It was awesome. I followed it every day and cheered like crazy when he was convicted on all counts.”

Money laundering, drug and weapons trafficking, human trafficking, as well as being an accessory to over a dozen murders. “I liked it even better when he got the death penalty,” she said with a smile.

“Yeah.” Zoe’s eyes lit with the same vengeance Marisol always felt when a criminal like Fuentes got what they deserved. “Sucks that it might not happen for years though.”

“True. But I like to think it’ll be an added psychological torture, knowing he’s going to die by lethal injection.”

“I like it. You’re definitely my kind of person. Are you starving, by the way? I bet you’re starving.”

“A little, but I can wait to eat until I get there. I’m so sorry I’m late.”

Zoe waved the apology away. “It’s not your fault your plane got delayed by three hours.” She cast a look at Marisol as they walked at a fast clip toward the doors. “Man, Cruzie’s gonna die when he sees you. It’s so great you could fly up to surprise him at the party.”

“Yes. I’m dying to see him too.” Excitement and anticipation fluttered in her stomach. It had been months since he’d left Miami, two days after her ordeal with Miguel and Villa.

He’d flown down to see her twice since then, but only for a day or two at a time, and this was the first time she’d been able to get away. With the flurry of activity in the aftermath of the kidnapping, then the Fuentes case and Ethan busy with training all over the country, they’d had to make do with mostly phone calls and e-mail. She missed him so much she ached.

“I’ll bet. And I’ll also bet this is the best birthday present he’s ever gotten.”

Marisol smiled. “Hope so.” Actually she had one more surprise to give him, one that she was a little nervous about.

She’d had a lot of time to mull things over during the past few weeks, and she’d come to a decision. The attack and her love for Ethan had changed everything. Her priorities in life weren’t the same as they had been a few months ago.

She knew what she wanted; now she was going after it. She just prayed that Ethan wanted the same thing she did.

****

“Hey, birthday boy, you want a fresh beer?” Vance asked him.

“Nah, I’m good.” Ethan took a sip of his warmish one, glancing around DeLuca’s living room.

Pretty great, that his teammates would throw him a surprise party for his thirtieth.

He knew Briar was still uncomfortable with social gatherings. Nevertheless, there she was, running around helping DeLuca in the kitchen where they were dishing out platter after platter of food for everyone.

Celida and Tuck had brought the cake. The three layer confection had a badge made out of icing on the front of it, with FBI in big bold letters above, and
Female Body Inspector
beneath it. He’d laughed when he’d seen it.

But there was only one female body he was interested in inspecting, and he hadn’t had that privilege in over a month-and-a-half. Being apart sucked, and living so far away from each other was even worse.

He’d already checked with DeLuca to see when he could sneak away to Miami again for a few days because he couldn’t stand this. He would’ve flown down to surprise her last night and spend his birthday with her, but this was their only day off.

“You ready for your steak?” Vance asked.

“Yeah, sure.” He got up and followed his buddy outside, but Briar shooed him back in, saying as the birthday boy, he would get served.

While Vance stayed to help man the grill, he wandered across the back deck and onto the grass. Sunshine filled the decent-sized backyard. Schroder was sprawled in a deck chair near the back fence, Taya curled up on his lap while they talked with Evers and Rachel.

It was stupid, since these people were like family to him, but today he felt homesick. And…lonely. Seeing most of his teammates happily paired off made him miss Marisol even more.

He spotted Blackwell off to one side of the yard, nursing a beer while he sat on a chair all by himself. Ethan sighed. If he was having a tough time seeing all the happy couples around here, Blackwell had it worse. As usual, his wife was conspicuously absent.

Ethan ambled over and pulled up a chair beside him. “Feels good to have a day off, huh?” he asked, tipping his head back to drain his beer.

“Yeah.” Blackwell watched Briar and Vance at the grill while he rolled the beer bottle between his hands. “Bet it feels even better when that day just happens to be your birthday,” he said with a grin.

Ethan laughed softly. “Doesn’t hurt. Hey, Vance, Evers, Tuck and I are thinking of going dirt biking later for a couple hours. You in?”

Blackwell glanced at him, then looked away. “Maybe. Summer’s supposed to be finishing up an investigation today, might be flying home tonight or tomorrow. I kinda want to pick her up at the airport, see if I can get another day or two off to…talk to her. We’ve uh, got some things to straighten out,” he finished, then cleared his throat, clearly feeling awkward.

Ethan leaned forward to set his forearms on his knees. It was rare for Blackwell to talk about personal stuff with any of them. Ethan might not be a relationship expert, especially when he’d only just fallen in love and his girl lived over a thousand miles away, but he cared about his teammate and didn’t like him going through this.

“That’s good, man. I’m sure DeLuca would clear you for a couple days. We’re due for equipment maintenance early this week anyhow.”

Blackwell nodded, still didn’t look at him. “I just…I can’t go on like this, you know? I need to know, one way or the other. And I won’t let her go without a fight.”

Ethan nodded. He didn’t know, but he could imagine. Hard enough to miss the woman you loved because she lived in the opposite end of the country, but it had to be infinitely worse to miss the wife you shared a life and a home with.

Even though he and Marisol had only been together a couple months, if things between them started to slide for whatever reason, he’d sure as hell fight to hold onto her. “How long you guys been married for now?”

“Six years, but we’ve been together for almost nine.”

A long stretch. While Ethan didn’t know Summer well at all, Blackwell sure as hell seemed like he wanted to stay together and work things out. “That’s a long time.” Too long, to just throw it away without trying. “Whatever happens, we’re here for you, man. You know that, right?”

Blackwell looked at him, the corner of his mouth curving upward. “Yeah, I know.” He reached out to slap Ethan on the back. “But I didn’t come here to be a downer on your birthday, brother.”

Ethan scoffed. “You’re not a downer, and I appreciate you being here.”

His teammate chuckled and brought his beer to his mouth with a muttered, “Don’t mention it.”

Vance turned around and cupped his hands around his mouth, his deep voice ripping through the quiet like a freaking foghorn. “Food’s up, come and get it while it’s hot!”

“Is that the voice you used to call the pigs in back on the farm?” Ethan called out to him.

Vance merely raised an eyebrow. “You know it, baby.”

Ethan grimaced. “Don’t call me baby, it’s creepy.”

His buddy gave an exaggerated sigh. “Just gitcha ass over here and get your food so everyone else can eat, will ya?”

Ethan sauntered over, took a good-natured thump on his shoulder from Vance’s big fist and picked up a plate. Turning to Briar, he fluttered his lashes. “Please, ma’am, may I have some more?”

Her lips twitched. “All right, but only because I like you.”

“And I am so glad about that,” he said, bumping her lightly with his elbow. “I’d hate to be on your bad side.”

“Just don’t do anything to hurt my man, and you’ll be fine.” Though she smiled as she said it, Ethan heard the steel in her voice and it made him smile.

He loaded his plate with a steak, baked potato and all the fixings before walking across the patio to grab another beer from the cooler on the deck. As he bent down, he noticed everyone watching him. He straightened, frowning, then heard whispered voices behind him, coming from inside.

Turning around, he squinted to see through the shadows in the comparatively dark living room. Zoe sauntered toward him, tucked beneath the shelter of Bauer’s arm, a satisfied smile on her face. One that told him something was up.